Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1902
Mr. Conger to Mr. Hay
Peking, January 21, 1902.
Sir: Referring to Department’s instructions No. 405 of the 30th October last, requesting a report as to the facts relative to a rupture between Protestant and Roman Catholic converts at Hsin-Chin, in the province of Kiangsi, I have the honor to inclose herewith copies of correspondence with Consul-General Goodnow on the subject.
The report is not quite so clear or satisfactory as it might be, but the essential facts of the case are evident from the consul-general’s correspondence with the viceroy at Nanking.
I have, etc.,
Mr. Conger to Mr. Goodnow.
Peking, December 11, 1901.
Sir: I inclose herewith a copy of a dispatch from Viceroy Liu at Nankin to the Chinese minister at Washington regarding disturbances at Hsin-Chin caused by ill feeling between Protestant and Roman Catholic converts there.
I request that you will carefully investigate this matter and report the circumstances of the case fully to this legation as soon as possible.
I am, etc.,
Mr. Goodnow to Mr. Conger.
Shanghai, January 8, 1902.
Sir: Replying to your No. 1271 of December 11, I have to inclose herewith letter from His Excellency Liu, viceroy at Nanking, and my reply thereto, both regarding the disturbances in Kiangsi, to which your dispatch refers. The viceroy answered expressing satisfaction with my reply, and I have heard of no further trouble affecting our missions.
Some months ago the French vice-consul visited Nanchang and the surrounding region. He seems to think that the missions are not so much to blame for the troubles in Kiangsi as are some people (Chinese) who take the name of converts for the protection gained therefrom. In many cases, he says, these people have absolutely no connection with any church.
[Page 135]If the above-mentioned inclosures do not give the information you wish, I shall do what I can to get further detailed information covering the present state of affairs in Kiangsi.
I am, etc.,
His Excellency Liu Kun-yih to Consul-General Goodnow, re disturbances in Kiangsi between Roman Catholics and Protestants.
On the 20th of the sixth moon, twenty-seventh year of Kuang-hsu (August 4, 1901), I received a communication from His Excellency Li, governor of Kiangsi, stating that on the 5th of the sixth moon the acting prefect of “Lin-kiang hi” reported to him that on the 2d of the sixth moon the Hon. “Chou hong Ket,” district magistrate of Hsin-chin, brought to his notice that during the fourth moon the Roman Catholics and Protestants rented rooms in his district, put up their signs, and propagated their religion; that the two bodies numbered somewhere from 300 to 600 converts, most of whom entered the church on account of pending lawsuits. Complainants became Catholics and defendants entered the Protestant church in order to secure the protection of the church (literally, “priests and fathers”). The missionaries did not live in these chapels and had only a few men in charge of the place, who were unable to control the converts, so that each one did as he pleased.
The two parties being at variance, the district magistrate went in company with the military officer to exhort them till his tongue and lips were parched, yet neither Catholics nor Protestants would yield an inch. Suddenly in the afternoon of the 30th of the fifth moon he learned that a number of the Catholics intended to make a disturbance at the Protestant chapel, so he went at once with the military to maintain order, not dreaming that they would get there before him, and that they would have dragged out and beaten the Protestant leader of the trouble, “Yang Tsu-jui,” who was slightly hurt. They also damaged the furniture of the chapel, after which they dispersed.
Having examined the injuries, the magistrate went to the Catholics to remonstrate. After this the Protestants collected a goodly number of their people and proceeded to the Catholic church to retaliate; and the magistrate went to restore order. At first the crowd dispersed, but stealthily they crept back to the three Catholic families, “Chen,” “Hsi,” and “Pan,” to beat them, wounding three persons. The magistrate proceeded posthaste to stop them, and found on examination that the injuries inflicted were but slight.
Who would have thought that the Protestant ringleaders in this affray, “Yang Tsu-jui” and others, would persist in getting more men together to proceed at midnight to the Catholic church armed with weapons to make a disturbance in front of the church door, pulling down the sign and smashing it? Again and again the magistrate with the military officer went to restore order, and in so doing were themselves slightly wounded; but luckily the crowd was dispersed before they succeeded to break into the church.
About the same time the prefect requested the colonel of Sing Kiang to proceed at midnight with soldiers to quell this disturbance, and deputed the expectant-magistrate, “Ho Chang-chi,” to proceed to the place to find out the origin of the trouble and to assist Mr. Chou, the magistrate of the place, in settling their disputes.
Now, within the city of Lin-kiang there is only the Catholic church, so the prefect sent a letter to the Catholic priest, Mei Wang-hsien, requesting him to enjoin on his church members that they must not cause any further disturbance of the place.
As there was no Protestant chapel in the city nor any Protestant preacher, word was asked to be sent to the bureau of foreign affairs with the request to ask Rev. Mr. Nichols at Nanchang to write at once to his preacher that the troublesome members should be kept under control to prevent further trouble.
The above reports being laid before me (the governor), I appointed Kiang Feng ching, an expectant-taotai, as well as the military officer, Chao Ching-ting, to proceed with 100 petty officers and braves to the place of trouble, and through the taotai I sent instructions to the local authorities to seize the disturbers of the peace and to deal with them. I also sent word to the-bureau of foreign affairs asking the official in charge to send a deputy to interview.
Mr. Nichols said that he had sent no preacher there and that he knew of only a few (Protestant) Christians in the disturbed neighborhood. Steps were then taken to let the people of Lo chio fu know that they must not disturb the peace, and that the local authorities were empowered to seize and punish any one not complying with his orders.
[Page 136]Kiang Peng ting, the expectant-taotai, now reports that Yang Tsu-jui and Chen Peng hsiang had not previously entered the church, but that last year he had opened a shop in partnership with another man, when, finding himself in financial difficulties, he joined the Catholic Church in the 3d moon of the current year, and that Yang tsu-jui entered the Protestant Church. In the 4th moon they commenced litigations; both parties, relying on the protection they hoped to get (from the church), ignored the magistrate’s summons for a trial. The elders of each denomination naturally held their own members to be in the right. On the 30th of the moon the Catholic, Chen feng hsiang, collected a crowd of men of like faith, who proceeded to the Protestant church, dragged Yang Tsu-jui outside of his door, and beat him. The injuries inflicted were slight, however. Yang Tsu-jui in his turn also collected men to make retaliation. They broke the doors and windows of the church and smashed the furniture of three Catholic families, one man and a woman getting slightly hurt in this affray. The magistrate and military proceeded posthaste to restore order and were slightly injured in their effort.
On the 6th of the moon a younger brother of Yang Tsu-jui assaulted Len Tai-lai of the Catholic Church and hurt him severely.
The deputed expectant-taotai ascertained the facts that Cheng Peng-hsiang and Yang Tsu-jui are the respective leaders of the affray. They having run away, instructions were given for the arrest of their families (or members thereof). On demanding the ringleader from the Protestants, the pastor promised to find and to deliver him to justice. On the other hand, Mei Wang-hsing, the Catholic priest, in his letter openly and defiantly screens Chen Peng-hsiang, and the latter, presuming on the priest’s attitude, resists all the more the orders of the court.
Both parties to this feud are notorious persons, and as it makes no difference to which religion they belong, I have given orders to the magistrate and military to effect the arrest of these ringleaders and to have them punished. The missionaries on both sides have been asked by letter to dismiss from membership Yang Tsu-jui and Chen Peng-hsiang, after which they will be deprived of their official rank and severely dealt with.
The governor finds that at the bottom of this trouble is a debt (of money); that both parties, relying on their connection with the church, collected a crowd to fight each other; that the Catholics first attacked the Protestants, and that afterwards the Protestants retaliated on the Catholics, the disturbance reaching such a pitch that the civil and military local authorities received injuries in the mélée. Although the injured parties have recovered, such cases should be dealt with and punished, as they have broken the law of the land and infringed the rules of the church. The deputed expectant-taotai is therefore again instructed to arrest the ringleaders and to punish them, and this communication is sent to the American and French consuls asking them to instruct priest Mei Wang-hsiang, residing at King-Kiang, the Rev. Mr. Nichols, residing at Nanchang, to expel from the church the ringleaders, Chen Peng hsiang, Yang Tsu-jui, and other noted criminals in the case, and deliver them up to the local authorities and dealt with, in order that peace may be restored.
the viceroy’s remarks.
Some time ago there was a similar outbreak between Catholics and Protestants at Jen Keang, when the French consul-general sent his vice-consul Kai to make inquiries, with the message that no matter to what religion the breakers of the peace belonged, they were to be given up to the local authorities to be dealt with, and you, the consul-general, consented to give your support on this point and sent a letter to the governor of Kiangsi to the effect that the case was to be settled by him and leaving the matter to his sense of justice.
In the present case the Catholics and Protestants at Hsin Kau hsien, on account of some debt, collected a crowd of church members to create a disturbance and retaliated on each other. The civil and military authorities in their efforts to quell the riot, were themselves slightly wounded. Of late, these Christians, relying on their connection with the church, have acted contrary to and not in accordance with the law, which works harm, not simply to that neighborhood, but it also affects the honor of the church. The ringleaders of this disturbance should therefore be seized and severely dealt with. Such men should not be upheld nor screened, otherwise they will get bolder and bolder, leading to trouble without end.
Catholics and Protestants have repeatedly been at variance with each other. If no stop is put to these disturbances, how can the people live together in peace? As missionaries preach, exhorting men to do good, they should quickly devise ways and means to control their converts and do whatever is possible to stop the bad practice of receiving members indiscriminately into the church.
[Page 137]In case it should happen again that non-Christians bring lawsuits against native Christians, the missionaries should, according to rule, no longer interfere in such matters, so that all may be treated alike which would only result in good. It is also hoped that the Catholics and Protestants will not again offend against each other; still more do I hope that the people and Christians will be thoroughly disarmed of their suspicions and dislike of each other.
Mr. Goodnow to Viceroy Liu Kun-yi.
Shanghai, August 29, 1901.
Sir: I have read very carefully your dispatch of August 26, regarding the disturbances in Kiangsi province between (so-called) Catholics and Protestants, and I have read carefully the letter inclosed from His Excellency Li and the reports of the magistrates on the trouble in Chinching district.
I do not find that anywhere is it charged that the Rev. Mr. Nichols, the American missionary, interfered to screen from justice the man who had become a member of his church. It is not necessary that the man should be dismissed from the church before he is punished by your officials. I hold that membership of an American church does not in any way lessen the obligations of a Chinese to his own Government, and its officers have constantly refused to take any part in a purely Chinese matter, even though one of the disputants might be a member of an American church; nor do we intend to interfere in such-cases, unless, indeed, the man is persecuted on account of his religion.
I talked with the Rev. Nichols very recently and he assures me that he never takes a man in his church without going first to the magistrate of the district in which the man lives to find if there was reason against the man becoming a member of his church. For this cautious course I commended him.
I desire again to say to your excellency that your power is exactly the same over Chinese members of American churches as it is over any and all Chinese in your district, having due heed to the treaty prohibitions of persecution for religion’s sake. In the particular case of which you write there is no reason why you should not deal with Yang Tsu-jui according to Chinese law and absolutely as though he were a Confucianist.
The gospel of Christ is preached by our missionaries not to subvert your authority nor to erect an empire within the Empire. It inculcates in the most positive terms that Christians shall render to the lawful authorities wherever they may be all the submission and obedience to which those authorities are entitled under the law.
With expressions of the highest respect, I am, etc.,